There are many Lessons not Learned in spite of experience. Thankfully there are also examples of Lessons Learned through experience that have contributed to meeting technical and ethical responsibilities. As engineers, we should pursue the latter. The most tragic and devastating LESSON NOT LEARNED in our lifetime is the undoing of all of the bitter lessons learned through experience in battling pandemics. Today’s coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc, bringing death, economic depression, widespread disease, unemployment, education disruption, and more. …
Author Archives : James Lefter, P.E.
James Lefter (retired) was a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois and Virginia Tech. He held Senior Executive Service positions in the Office of Facilities Veterans Administration. He served on the American Concrete Institute Committee for Building Code Requirements (ACI 318) and as Director of the Learning From Earthquakes Program of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
Eureka is the moment when someone (an Innovator) suddenly realizes that information organized into a new pattern solves a problem or gives new insight. Eureka moments have occurred frequently in engineering, science, medicine, law, economics, and all other areas of study. Many engineers mention Eureka moments experienced when facing an apparently insoluble design, construction, or failure problem. …
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he will end in certainties.
– Francis Bacon
Practicing structural engineers must make decisions on safety, cost and utility even when “hard information” is not available. “Bayes’ Rule” is a mathematical tool for using experience and judgment to calculate the probabilities that could guide these decisions. The engineer assembles data such as test results, develops a hypothesis relating the data to underlying causes, and uses Bayes’ Rule to calculate the probability that the hypothesis is correct. …